One reader emailed me and asked about where the books should go. Ryan and I are
planning on selling a few of the more People could donate various books to
various institutions — such as the veteran’s hospital. You could
also give them to Deseret Industries or Goodwill.It is relatively easy to
sell books on eBay and, I think, Amazon. KSL.com classifieds are also ways to
sell books.You could also take the books to a local bookseller such as (in
Salt Lake) Sam Wellers at Trolley Square, Benchmark books, Greg Kofford books or
a few other places and let them see if they would like to buy any of them. If
you donate them to the city library, they probably won’t put them on the
shelves. They will generally sell them to raise money.

There
are some places (places with better weather, I assume) where people put the
books in boxes on corners as a sort of free take and leave library. You could
always do that too. Put out a table on a good day with a sign that says free
books. It is fun to see people come and go through them.

We put most of our books on the "free" table when we have a yard sale.
One lady backed her beat up car to this table, and dumped every single book in
the trunk without looking at any of the titles. Then she drove
off......Enjoy!

Don't forget Senior Centers or Golden Age
Centers in your town. Sometimes I have taken books there for Senior Citizens to
enjoy.

On a Saturday morning some years ago, my wife and I went to a yard sale hosted
by the Young Women in our ward. I, of course, went straight to the table with
old books. I picked up several items everyone should have in their home
library, works by Shakespeare, Milton, Asimov, and Gary Larson. I knew I would
want to get around to reading them someday. As I was paying for them, I saw my
name was already written inside the front cover. Without consulting me, my wife,
wanting to de-clutter the house, had donated the same used books I had long ago
purchased – probably at a YW yard sale.

I once went to an estate sale where there were dozens of book nooks in the home.
I knew the estate sale proprietors and at the end of the sale they asked me if I
wanted to buy all the leftovers for $25. It was a small pick-up load. I listed
about 400 on amazon and for months I was sending books to places far and wide.
Then book sales fell off drastically and I was left with hundred of books. I
have donated, traded, and sent many books to paper recycle. I don't regret
having had thousands of books pass through my vehicles on their way to odd
places, but I can tell you that selling books is no longer a brisk business to
have. Keep the ones you really treasure and find new homes for the surplus. Now
I need to follow that advice.

Interesting story--especially the psychological angle to clutter and cleaning it
up. For instance, I once read of a mental health counselor who told clients to
go home and "clean out a drawer," along with whatever other more
specific therapy she was prescribing. The idea was this: getting rid of
physical baggage is a step towards, and is symbolic of, getting rid of mental
clutter also. Good advice!